Garage door lock

ABSTRACT

A garage door lock which automatically locks the door with the bottom of the door resting flush on a sill despite raising or lowering of the sill from its normal position due to frost action or other causes.

Unite States atent I [11] 3,863,965 Vickers Feb. 4, 1975 1 GARAGE DOOR LOCK 1,959,809 5/1934 Benjamin 292/40 ux 2,124,969 7/1938 [76] Inventor: William S. Vrckers, 1186 Jericho 2 199 765 5/1940 Rd., Abington, P8. l900l 2:309:437 1/1943 [22] Filed: June 20, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 371,862 Primary Examiner-Robert L. Wolfe Attorney, Agent, or FirmThomas Hooker [52] U.S. CI 292/66, 292/DIG. 36, 292/DIG. 51, 292/DIG. 55 [51] Int. Cl. E05c 5/00 57 ABSTRACT [58] Field of Search 292/1, 5,6, 7,40, 66,

292/106, 107, DIG. 36, DIG. 51, DIG. 55, A garage door lock which automatically locks the 1316- 60 door with the bottom of the door resting flush on a sill despite raising or lowering of the sill from its normal References Clted position due to frost action or other causes.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 508,389 11/1893 Immel 292/167 UX 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures GARAGE DOOR LOCK This invention relates to locks for securing overhead garage doors or the like in a closed position with the bottom of the door resting flush upon a sill. A conventional garage door lock is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 2,l24,969 and includes a pair of extendible locking bars which, when the door is lowered to rest on a sill, are extended to engage fixed openings in keepers on either side of the door and thus lock the door in the closed position. Raising or lowering of the sill raises or lowers the bars relative to the locking openings and prevents locking of the door.

The garage door lock disclosed herein includes a pair of locking bars and collapsible guides for the bars which permit the closing and locking of the garage door with the bottom of the door flush upon a sill despite raising or lowering of the sill from its normal position. The bars are automatically adjusted to the change in height of the door relative to the keepers into which they are extended and thus assure that the door is properly locked closed with the bottom on the sill. Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, of which there is one sheet.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partially broken away view of one side of a garage door having a lock according to the invention showing the door closed and locked;

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. I except showing the door closed and locked in the case that the sill has raised due to ground frost or another cause;

FIG. 3 is a view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1 illustrating a locking bar extending into a hole in a keeper plate; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 1 illustrating a guide for the locking bar.

The lock described herein is useful on garage door closures or locks of the type including one or a pair of extendible locking bars mounted on the interior surface of the garage door 12 with the inner ends of the bars pivotally connected to rotatable locking plate 14. A handle 16 on the outside of door 12 is secured to the locking plate 14 by means of a shaft 18 extending through the door. The handle and plate are illustrated in the locked position in FIGS. 1 and 2 with the bolt of lock 20 extending into a locking recess in plate 14 to secure the plate in the locked position with the bars 10 extended.

Each bar 10 extends through a guide 22 located to one side of plate 14. The guides 22 each comprise an L-shaped support bracket 24 secured on the interior surface of door 12 with a bar 10 extending through an elongate barreceiving slot 26 formed in the portion of the bracket extending away from door 12. Slot 26, as illustrated in FIG. 2, is appreciably longer than the width of bar 10 so that the bar may be moved up and down within the slot. Pin 28 is mounted on bracket 24 in pin holder 30 with spring 32 biasing the pin toward bar 10 so that pin end 34 engages the adjacent edge of the bar and normally holds the opposing edge against the upper end of slot 26. The free end 36 of each bar 10 away from plate 14 includes a cam surface 38 extending from a tip 40 at the lower edge of the bar back toward the upper edge of the bar normally maintained in engagement with the upper end of slot 26.

Garage door 12 is normally brought down in the direction of arrow 41 to the closed position with the handle l6 and plate 14 rotated counterclockwise from the position of FIG. 1. The door is closed until lower door edge 42 rests upon sill 44. The sill is conventionally a concrete slab resting on the ground. FIG. I illustrates the door in a closed position resting upon sill 44 in the normal position and not raised by frost or other causes. When the door is lowered to this position. the bars I0 are withdrawn to the dotted position of FIG. I and tips 40 are free of the keeper plates 46 to either side of door 12. With the door in this position, handle 16 and plate I4 are rotated to the position of FIG. I to extend the bars 10 so that the tips 40 protrude through locking slots 48 provided in the keeper plates 46. The spring-backed pins 28 hold the upper edges of bars 10 against the top ends of slots 26 as the bars are extended so that the bars rock about this surface as moved from the retracted to locked positions shown in the dotted and full lines in FIG. 1. As the bars are extended, the ends 36 move freely through the locking slots 48.

In some instances the sill 44 may be raised as a result, for instance, of ice on the sill, frost action, or other causes. In normal garage door locks, raising of the sill prevents the door from being lowered sufficiently to permit the ends of the locking bars to extend through the slots in the keeper plates. The door cannot be locked closed. This problem is eliminated by the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a garage door closed against an elevated sill so that the locking plate, bars and guides are elevated with respect to the fixed locking slots in keeper plates 46. In this case, rotation of the locking plate 14 extends the bars 10 from their retracted position and pilots tips 40 within the locking slots 48. Further extension of the bars brings the cam surfaces 38 into engagement with the upper ends of the slots 48 so that the bar ends 36 are forced down into the slots and simultaneously the spring-backed pins 28 are compressed against springs 32. As shown in FIG. 2, the bars 10 illustrated in solid lines are extended to lock the elevated door against a raised sill. In this case, the upper edge of the bars 10 no longer rest upon the upper end of guide slots 26.

The disclosed garage door lock automatically assures that the door is locked despite changes in elevation of the sill caused by frost, ground water, or other causes. While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is understood that this is capable of modification, and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth, but desire to avail myself of such changes and alterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A lock for securing a garage door or like closure in a closed position with an edge of the door in flush engagement against a movable sill or like surface, where the lock includes a locking bar having a nose at the free end thereof, means for extending the bar so that the nose moves toward one side of the door, and a fixed keeper located at such side of the door and having a bar-engaging surface facing the sill so that upon closing of the door on the sill, extension of the bar moves the nose toward the keeper to engage the surface and lock the door against movement away from the sill; the improvement comprising a bar guide on the door adjacent the fixed keeper, the guide including a bar guide surface facing the sill and engagable with a side of the bar facing away from the sill and means biasing the bar toward the guide surface to hold such side of the bar normally against the bar guide surface while permitting movement of the bar from such surface toward the sill, whereby, depending upon the position of the sill relative to the fixed keeper, extension of the bar to position the free end in engagement with the bar-engaging surface may move the bar from the bar guide surface against the action of said means.

2. A lock as in claim 1 wherein said bar guide in 

1. A lock for securing a garage door or like closure in a closed position with an edge of the door in flush engagement against a movable sill or like surface, where the lock includes a locking bar having a nose at the free end thereof, means for extending the bar so that the nose moves toward one side of the door, and a fixed keeper located at such side of the door and having a barengaging surface facing the sill so that upon closing of the door on the sill, extension of the bar moves the nose toward the keeper to engage the surface and lock the door against movement away from the sill; the improvement comprising a bar guide on the door adjacent the fixed keeper, the guide including a bar guide surface facing the sill and engagable with a side of the bar facing away from the sill and means biasing the bar toward the guide surface to hold such side of the bar normally against the bar guide surface while permitting movement of the bar from such surface toward the sill, wheReby, depending upon the position of the sill relative to the fixed keeper, extension of the bar to position the free end in engagement with the bar-engaging surface may move the bar from the bar guide surface against the action of said means.
 2. A lock as in claim 1 wherein said bar guide includes a member, an opening extending in the member, the bar extending through the opening, said bar guide surface being located on one side of said opening, and said means being located on an opposite side of said opening.
 3. A lock as in claim 2 wherein said means includes a spring holder on said bar guide, a contact member engaging said bar, and a spring confined between said holder and said member. 